Miners come up short in Idaho

Grayson Maddux receives a handoff during a Week 1 loss to South Summit. Christopher Reeves/The Park Record

It wasn’t quite the result they had hoped for, but the Park City Miners football team showed some improvement on Saturday afternoon at Idaho State University at the Rocky Mountain Rumble.

In their 27-10 loss to Minico (Idaho), PCHS coach Mike Shepherd said he saw some good things happening on the field.

"I would say we made really good progress," he said. "We played better. We did a lot of things well, but we still did a lot of things not so well. I would say that I am not displeased. But I wouldn’t actually say I’m happy either."

He said turnovers and mental errors still plague his team far too often.

"We just have to understand that making those silly mistakes is not something that will make us a very good team," he said.

Minico jumped out to a 13-0 first-quarter lead and had a 20-0 advantage before Zach Slusher hit a 25-yard field goal before halftime.

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Minico would tack on another touchdown before Park City found the end zone for the first time this season in the fourth quarter on a five-yard run from Josh Pelegrin.

Shepherd said he didn’t think the scoreboard accurately showed how even the game was.

"Not to say we deserved to win, by any means, but we should have been right in there," he said. "If we would have limited our early mistakes, we could have been competitive."

He said the Park City players are starting to understand the importance of the little things.

"Just a little bit of a wrong angle on a run or just not getting to the right shoulder on a certain block, it’s critical," he said. "But each week, as long as we keep working hard and getting better, things will begin to fall into place."

Before the season, Shepherd said he was going to take every single player in the PCHS football program on the trip to Idaho for the chance to bond and grow as a team. He said the plan worked out well.

"The trip itself was really fun," he said. "All the people who ran the festival up there were really friendly. And on the way home, the Varsity/JV bus broke down coming up Parley’s Canyon. So we had to sit there for 45 minutes cracking jokes and making fun of each other until the bus was fixed. It was a good trip and I’m glad we did it."

Park City (0-2) will take on Judge Memorial at home on Friday night, though the team isn’t sure if it will be able to use Dozier Field (due to construction on the track) or if it’ll have to go to a to-be-determined backup plan.

Shepherd isn’t worried about where the Miners will play. He and his players are focused on what’s going to happen on the field.

"They run an option offense," he said of the Bulldogs. "We practice a lot against the option, so, defensively, it’s something we’re ready for. We’ve just got to execute."